A large, headless, Roman-era bronze statue believed to represent Marcus Aurelius has reigned for 26 years as the resident philosopher-king of the Cleveland Museum of Art. With its lifelike presence, fluid drapery folds and dark, luscious patina, the sculpture is one of the museum’s signature treasures. Yet a mystery has always hovered over this exceedingly rare object. Where, exactly, did it come out of the ground, and who unearthed it?
Just as important, how many hands did it pass through before it found its way into the collection in 1986? The museum has long stated that the work might have been found in the 1960s in an obscure village in southwestern Turkey called Bubon, but it isn't sure.
The government of Turkey, on the other hand, is sure. It says that the bronze and nearly two dozen other works in Cleveland were looted from its soil, although the country has produced no evidence.
According to reports in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and Britain's Economist, the country has launched an international campaign aimed at repatriating such works. And it's proceeding in a way that could shake the foundations of encyclopedic museums with items collected before contemporary laws and international agreements intended to prevent looting and trafficking.
By JASON GOODWIN - NYT - Joseph Kanon is a specialist in fin de guerre thrillers, whose previous novels set in 1945-46 include “Alibi,” “Los Alamos,” “The Good German” and “Stardust.” The period is well chosen: dark secrets are finally coming to the surface, and people are being called to account for what the war has made them. For readers, it’s immediately recognizable territory: the aftermath of the conflict, shabby, filmic. Now, in “Istanbul Passage,” Kanon compounds the fraught postwar mood with a location to match.
A Turkish mill booked a 30,000 mt mixed cargo from a North American supplier at a composite price of $403/mt CFR Izmir late Thursday, revealing the level of the global import benchmark market. The cargo includes 12,000 mt of plate and structural, 12,000 mt of shredded scrap and 6,000 mt of HMS I. Platts daily assessment has now lost $50/mt in a month, starting June at $400/mt CFR Turkish ports for premium-graded heavy melting scrap I/II (80/20 blend): a decrease of $10/mt in a day. This is the lowest point the price series has been since records began in December 2010. The reduction month-on-month matches almost to the dollar the decrease heard in the US domestic market for June.
Louisville, Colo. – Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announces the beginning of its Dream Chaser Space System’s flight test program with a successful captive carry of a full scale Dream Chaser Flight Vehicle near the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Colorado. This test marks the completion of the 12th Program Milestone for NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev) Program and the 16th overall for SNC under NASA Commercial Crew Development Program.
Vision Solutions, Inc., the world's leading provider of information availability software and services, today announced their partnership with Istanbul Pazarlama A.S., one of the oldest and most established companies in Turkey's IT sector. The partnership comes on the heels of headlines that report Turkey is becoming the fastest growing economy in the world. From 2002 to 2010 the Turkish GDP grew from $230 billion to $736 billion. Turkish GDP grew by 8.9 percent in 2010 and its estimated growth will continue at this rate. Optimism for growth in the IT sector remains high due to youthful, well-educated and technically savvy population -- half the entire country is under the age of 29.
World-renowned Belgian chocolatier Godiva has opened its first Godiva Chocolate Café in Europe at London’s luxury department store, Harrods. The café is a unique destination for all lovers of chocolate wishing to enjoy the ultimate chocolate experience in an exquisite setting. Chocoholics can look forward to a tempting menu, including elegant patisserie and decadent chocolate drinks, which has been created jointly by Harrods executive pastry chef Markus Bohr, Godiva’s executive chef chocolatier Thierry Muret and Godiva global chef chocolatier David Funaro. 
Spellbinding but worrisome from a logistical standpoint, dark horse Istanbul's bid to host the 2020 Olympics eerily echoes Rio de Janeiro's footing when it came from behind to win the right to host the 2016 Games. Four years ago, Rio, in a major upset, became the first nation in South America to secure the Games, despite a technical score well below rivals Tokyo and Chicago going into the final vote. 
Istanbul retained its place on the list of the top 10 convention destinations centers in the world last year, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) said yesterday. Istanbul was in seventh place in 2010 with 109 conventions, but fell to ninth place in 2011, although the number of conferences held in the city rose to 113, according to data from the International Congress and Convention Association. 
Huntsville, Alabama is now home to one of America's fastest growing private companies, and the top Woman-Owned Federal Contractor in the United States. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), headquartered in Sparks, Nev., announced today at a reception for Huntsville business and community leaders at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, that the company has opened an office at 1525 Perimeter Parkway, in Huntsville.
The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) and Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) are pleased to invite all eligible Somali American college and graduate students to apply for the Study Abroad in Turkey Scholarship for Minority Students. These scholarships are awarded to American citizens and permanent residents who have received acceptance into a university in Turkey, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), or Bosnia and Herzegovina. Scholarships range from $500 to $2,000 based on the duration of study and are awarded on a rolling basis. Since the program's inception in 2008, over 230 American minority students have studied in Turkey and Northern Cyprus.
Felicis Ventures, the Silicon Valley-based firm run by super angel investor and former Google executive Aydin Senkut, has raised $52m for its third fund, according to a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. 
Four months after a court ruled debtholders could foreclose on its Alex Hotel and Flatotel properties in Midtown, Alexico Group and its partners have filed for bankruptcy protection in connection with the two buildings, which have $368 million in liabilities, Bloomberg News reported (note: correction appended). The developer has $245 million of outstanding liabilities on the 272-room Flatotel at 135 West 52nd Street with lenders Rockpoint Group, Procaccianti Group and Atlas Capital Group. The partnership purchased the debt from Anglo Irish Bank two years ago.
Ernst & Young LLP today announced the finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2012 Award in the New York region. The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Award winners will be announced at a special gala on June 19, 2012 at the Marriott Marquis. 
ATAA Past-President Günay Evinch (Övünç) spoke as the Master of Ceremonies at President Abdullah Gül's Atatürk Remembrance Reception in Chicago on May 19, 2012. Evinch called the audience of over 750 for a moment of silence and for the Turkish National Anthem: 
